Φύσις as natura in St. Thomas Aquinas’s Commentary on the Politics and in STh I-II, Question 94

Abstract: In this paper I consider how St. Thomas dealt with φύσις as natura in his comments on the opening pages of Aristotle’s Politics as translated by Moerbeke, drawing support from the commentaries on Physics II.1, Metaphysics V.4, and Nicomachean Ethics V.7, as well as from the Digest , whose language had become fashionable across the universities by the time the translations were written. Saint Thomas’s understanding of these pages of the Politics may have affected his argument in the Summa , especially STh I-II, q. 94, where he shows caution in addressing the Roman law treatment of natura , and STh II-II, q. 57. Attention to St. Thomas’s language in the commentaries and the Summa may bring additional clarity to his understanding of natura and its cognates in both settings.